This invention relates to a hull construction for a small boat and more particularly to an improved hull construction for a small watercraft which increases both the maneuverability and the stability of the watercraft under a wide variety of conditions.
There is a class of small watercraft which is highly popular and which is designed primarily to accommodate a single rider, normally wearing a swimming or wetsuit, due to the sporting nature of this type of watercraft. This type of watercraft is normally propelled by a jet propulsion unit wherein water is drawn in from the body of water in which the watercraft if operating, is accelerated by an engine driven impeller and is discharged through a pivotally supported discharge nozzle. The discharged nozzle is supported for pivotal movement so as to effect steering of the watercraft through pivotal movement of the nozzle. With this type of steering arrangement, however, the amount of pivotal movement of the steering nozzle is generally quite restricted. Normally, such steering nozzles do not pivot through more than about 30 degrees. Therefore, even though this type of watercraft is designed to be sporting in nature and highly maneuverable, the restricted pivotal movement of the steering nozzle has tended to cause this type of vehicle to have a relatively large steering radius.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved small watercraft having greater maneuverability.
It is another object of the invention to provide a small watercraft that may be steered through very small steering radii.
It is another object of this invention to provide a hull design for a small watercraft wherein spin turns (watercraft turns about its own center) may be executed.
The restricted steering movement and large turning circles of conventional small watercraft of this type, as aforedescribed, also tends to make it difficult to dock or beach the watercraft in a desired fashion. It is, therefore, a further object of this invention to provide a hull arrangement for a small watercraft that facilitates docking and/or beaching.
The very compact and small nature of the watercraft of the type herein referred to gives rise to certain defects that defeat their intended purpose. For example, the relatively small size of the hull tends to cause poor directional stability when traveling in a straight line. That is, the configuration of the hull and the small size tends to create directional instability when traveling in a straight line. Although arrangements have been proposed for improving straight ahead stability, these arrangements tend to increase the resistance of the watercraft to straight ahead travel and thus decrease its speed. Furthermore, such devices as have been proposed for conventional small watercraft tend to further restrict the ability of them to maneuver in small areas and turn about small radii circles. Furthermore, the conventional hull constructions tend to cause these small watercraft of the prior art type to be unstable and become capsized very easily.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved hull design for small watercraft that improves stability when running in a straight direction.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a stable and yet high speed hull design for straight travel in a small watercraft.
It is a yet further object of this invention to provide a hull design for a small watercraft that improves stability and reduces resistance when traveling straight ahead but which is nevertheless very stable when turning.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a hull design for a small watercraft that permits high speed and yet which is maneuverable in turning.
In all watercraft, there are generally two rather dissimilar types of turning operations. In one type of turn, it is desirable that the watercraft be capable of turning on a very small radius, or about a point that lies within the confines of the hull. Also, however, it is desirable to permit high speed turns on relatively larger radii. The hull designs heretofore proposed for one purpose have not been particularly adapted to the other.
It is, therefore, a still further object of the invention to provide a hull design for a small watercraft that is stable under a wide variety of turning conditions and which can execute vastly different types of turns with high degrees of efficiency.
Because of the sporting nature of this type of watercraft, it is also desirable if the operator may effect the changes in handling and steering ability of the watercraft by means in addition to the mere steering of the watercraft through turning of its steering wheel, tiller or the like. That is, the sporting nature of the vehicle can be significantly improved if the operator is able to effect its handling through shifting of his weight forwardly or rearwardly or from side to side in addition to turning the steering wheel. This greatly improves the rider's enjoyment of operating this type of vehicle.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved hull design for a small boat wherein the rider may maneuver the boat through shifts of his weight in addition to steering inputs.